Drying apparatus.



A. NORDSTROM AND 0. A. 655%.

DRYING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED OCLZS. 1917.

1,326,525, Patented Dec. 30, 1919.

5 S HEETSSHEET l.

WITNESSES mum/ms flan Mo/eps mom A. NdRDSTROiVI AND 0. A. O'BERG.

DRYING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 23, 1911.

Patented Dec. 30, 1.919.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 2- INI/ENTORS flea n o/ws TAQM 04510.5 AM AR OBERG Br 9E I i, A OR/VEYS l hr WITNESSES fimiww A. NORDSTROM AND 0. A. O'BERG.

DRYING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED 0CT.23| 19!].

1,326,595., Patented Dec. 3(L1919.

5 SHELiS-SHEET 3.

W DAWNWK W iTOHA/EVS A. NOHD STROM AND C. A. O BERG.

DRYING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 23, 911.

Patented Dec. 30,1919.

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DRYINGAPPARATUSI.

APPLICATION FILED OCT- 23, 19M.

Patented Dec. 30, 1919.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 5- 1 M II IHH Ill llH IH' INVENTOHS ABEL A/URDSOTFOM GARLos flGN/M BERG BY' 51mm 1 A TTORNE Y8 TED srawnm OFFICE.

ABEL NORDSTROM AND CARLOS A. ()BERG, OF BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA.

DRYING erraaarus.

To all whom it may. concern:

Be it known that we, ABEL NoRDsTRoM and CARLos AGNAR OBERG, subjects of the King of Sweden, residing at No. 625 Garay street, Buenos Aires, Argentina, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Dry ing Apparatus, of which the following is a specification. I

This invention relates to an improved apparatus for drying cereals, casein and other similar materials and substantially has for object an apparatus adapted to eiiiciently perform the drying operation, in a speedy and; progressive manner.

Another object of this invention is to provide a drying apparatus inwhich the materials introduced therein, will be cleaned, beforedrying, by the same air current used for this latter operation and in which, finally, the dried material will be submitted to cooling previous to its discharge from the machine, thereby avoiding the troubles liable to arise in vconnection with hot materials, particularly in the case of grain.

This invention also has for its object the adoption of means which permit of separating from the material to be dried, at the moment of its entrance into the apparatus, any

excessively light particles or dust which the same might contain.

One of the main troubles which had heretofore to be overcome in connection with apparatus of this kind, was the irregularity with which the air was heated in themterior, said difficulty being avoided in ac cordance with this invention by employing suitable heating coils or by providing double walls for the drying drums so that a circulation of hot air or steam may be maintained between the said walls- A further object of this invention is the provision of suitablemeans for regularly exhausting the air from the apparatus while at the same time preventing said air from carrying along with it the material which is being dried, said means allowing also of using the apparatus for cleaning grains, when so desired.

A still further object of this invention is the provision of suitable means for screen- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 23, 1917. Serial No. 198,031.

ing the material when dried, before its discharge from the machine, by separating therefrom any exceedingly small grains or other strange mattenwhich might have been carried along therewith and escaped from the action of the cleaning device arranged at the entrance end of the machine.

The invention also has in View certain other objects which will appear in the course of the following description and to which particular reference will be made in the final claims hereto appended.

In order that the invention may be readily understood and carried into practice without difiiculty, it has been represented 'by way of example, in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of one form of construction of the machine in accordance with this invention.

Fig. 2 shows a cross section of the machine on the line AE-B of Fig. l. I

Fig. 3 is an elevation of the feed end of' the machine.

Fig. 4 is a similar view of the machine but of'the end where the dried material is discharged therefrom, and

Fig. 5 shows a. longitudinal section of a modified construction of the machine, accordance with the present'invention.

In all the said views, the same numbers of reference I indicate like or corresponding parts.

Referring to Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, the apparatus according to this invention consists of a. series of concentrically arranged drums or cylinders, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7, constructed of any suitable material. We preferably employ an odd number of drums, in

order that the admission of the material to be dried and the discharge of the material already treated shall take place by the oppotcrial would have to take place on the same side. On their inner surfaces, said drums are provided with a serles of'webs or ribs 8 arranged longitudinally in relation thereto; said ribs, while serving to considerably reinforce the walls of the drums at the same time cause the material to jump about and get stirred as the said drums rotate 0n the1r axes, whereby, allthe surfaces of the Ina-- terial to be dried will thoroughly come into contact with the hot air which, as will be seen later, is constantly caused to circulate in the interior of the drums. I

Within the said drums is also arranged a series of helical ribs or webs 9, in such a manner that the spiral direction of'the ribs 9 will be reversed in every two adjacent drums. The said ribs, while cooperating with the longitudinal ribs 8 to stir the material under treatment, mainly have for object to cause the said material to continuously circulate within the drums and travel from one end to the other and through the whole series, of same, from inside to outside, during the rotatory motion of the associated drums.

At their entrance end, the drums 1, 3, 5 and 7 are connected together by means of a suitable disk 10 of wood or other conveniont material, provided'with a central inlet opening 11 corresponding to the interior of the innermost drum.

This central opening or port 11 permits of the exhaust of the hot air and at the same time serves as a feed hole for the material to be dried.

At the discharge end, the cylinders or drums 2, 4: and 6 are also connected together by means of a disk 12 of iron or other suitable material which entirely closes the end openings of the said cylinders at the dis-.

charge end or'side of the apparatus (to the right of Fig. 1).

, It will be evident that when varying the number of. drums or cylinders arranged in series, the form of connecting the same toether, as above explained, will vary all the rums designated by odd numbers being secured to the disk 10 (supposing the innermost drum to be designated by 1), while the drums with even numbers are secured to the I disk 12.

manner similar to bush 14, on the rollers 22 mounted to rotate on their axles in the bearings 21. Said hollow bush is preferably reinforced by means of angular iron pieces 19.

At the entrance or feed end of the machine is arranged a hopper 23 into the upper part of which is discharged the material to be dried, by means of an elevator of any suitable or desired construction, here not shown, or said material is fed into the machine directly by hand, as may be deemed convenient. From the bottom of said hopper 23 leads a pipe 25, ofgradually increasing cross section toward its lower end and by which the other drum or cylinders and in the space thereby left free, a cylindrical interchangeable screen 26 is mounted, through which may fall particles of too small a size which may have been carried along with the dried material, before passing to the elevator 27 mounted on the outer side of the said drum 7 and which rotates with the whole body of the machine. Said elevator carries the buckets 28 which, when reaching the top of the apparatus, discharge their contents into a hopper 27 (Fig. i) from which the material may be conveyed, by an elevator or otherwise to any suitable place, or from which it may be put directly into bags.

A cylindrical pipe section 33 lies within bush 14 and passes into inlet port 11; feed pipe 25, passes diagonally downward through this pipe section 33 as may be seen in Fig. 1. Said pipe section 33 opens into a vertical pipe 34c and discharges therein any impurities carried along by the grain at its entranc into the machine. In one of the walls of the pipe 34 and at the same level with the pipe 33 is arranged a pipe 31, constituting, 1n the case shown, thecas'ing of a ventilator. The communication between the pipe 31 and the remainder of the apparatus maybe partially or entirelyclosed by means of a slide or shutter 32-, thusm-aking it possible to provide a larger or smaller outlet for the air and thereby to regulate at will the operation I of the apparatus. The ventilator fan is mounted on an axle and may be driven by any suitable means, not forming part of this invention.

Owing to the arrangement of thedrying and cooling cylinders or drums (to be described farther on) and of the ribs or webs- 8 and 9, the material, while being caused to jump about, will travel successively from one drum or cylinder to another, being guided by the helical webs 9, thus passing from the inner drum or cylinder 1 to the outerdrum 7, provided, as before described, with a screen 26 and aseries of dpenings 13 which permit material too large to pass through the screen, to be discharged from the drum, when it will be gathered by the gradual heating of the air as the same enters into the apparatus said air is made to circulate in a direction opposite to the movement of the material, as may be seen in the drawings, said material being dried by its contact with the air current encountered. The air enters'in cold condition into the apparatus by the-holes or ports 13 of the disk 12 and p by the screen of the outer drum or cylinder 7 and after passing through the space between this latter drum and the next following, 6, it passes into the annular space between the drum 6 and drum 5 and so on until it arrives at the interior of drum 1 from which it is exhausted by the ventilator 32.

When the apparatus is not to be used for cleaning or separating, the arrangement represented in Fig. 5 may be adopted, that is to say, the ventilator or air exhauster may be placed in the interior of the drum 1.

The heating of the air takes place in the interior of the same apparatus a d for that purpose any one of several arr ngements may be adopted, such for instance, as will now be described, with reference to Figs. 1 to 4 of the drawings. 1

On the outer surface of the drums 2, 3 and 4 aplurality of heating coils 85 or series of admission and discharge tubes are arranged, said tubes or coils being secured by means of clamps or other suitable devices and through the interior of which steam or other heating medium is caused to circulate. These drums 2, 3 and at act as drying drums. The drum 1 is the cleaning drum and the drumsor cylinders 6 and 7 act as cooling drums. on the wall of the drum 5 a suitable lining of non conducting material is placed, in order to prevent as much as possible the passage of heat to the space between the drums 5 and 6 and following. This arrangement is of particular importance in the treatment of materials whose qualities might be'impaired by exposing the same for any prolonged period to the heat required for drying the same and it'will be evident that the number of drying drums as well as the number of cooling drums may be other than that shown in the drawings, and may be varied according to the heat required for drying and the length of the path to be traveled over for the elimination of said heat.

The entrance of the steam into the ma chine and its discharge therefrom may be arranged to take place in any suitable manner, such, for instance, as has been shown in the accon'ip anying drawings and which will now be described: As above stated, the bush 20 ishollow and its end is provided with a gland 4:2, 43. From said gland leads a fixed tube 41 into the other end of which is mounted another gland 4A -45 connected to a pipe 48 for the admission of steam. Within the fixed pipe or tube ll is mounted a rotatable tube 46 which for a certain part of its length is spaced from the fixed tube 41, as may be clearly seen by referring to Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings. The rotatorytube46 branches at 49 the branches thereof being provided with a series of orific-es which communicate with the coils in the several drums. The opposite end of the said coils is connected to a similar branch 50 of a pipe 51 arranged to discharge into the chamber or space 51' also formed in the interior of the hollow bush 20. The steam supplied by the pipe 48 first fills the chamber -17 of the gland 45 and thereupon enters by the tube 46 and branches 49 into the coils 35 and after passing through said coils along the surface of the respective drums, it is discharged therefrom by the branches 50, pipe 51,. chamber 51, space 52 between the tubes 41 and 46 and finally escapes to the outer air by a port arranged in the formerof said tubes, and a tube 53. The branch tubes 49 and 50 are preferably furnished with suitable cocks 54E, soas to be able to blow the coils 54 off when required. The description of the particular embodiment shown is merely illustrative of the invention and should not be understood in a restrictive sense. For example, the heating means shown consists of separate heat .ing coils but variations in the details of this and other features of the construction may be made without departing from the scope.

terial to be treated is fed into the hopper 23 and falls into the lower part of the drum 1. The air current carries along with it the v lighter particles of the material which after passing through the discharge pipe 33 will finally fall into the pipe 34 from which they may be removed through an opening 34 provided with a suitable cover. ()wing to the rotatory movement of the drums, the material is caused to travel along the inner surface of the same, this direction being reversed for each successive drum and is stirred and moved about by the ribs 8 and 9 in the manner as for heating the air in the annular spaces beabove described. The movement of the air is in a direction opposite to that of the material as above set forth. As the outer drums or cylinders 5, 6 and 7 are not provided with heating means and the air enters into the same in a cold condition, the material dried in the drying drums, when reaching the cooling drums, will slowly be cooled till it arrives at the screens 26. Owing to the centrifugal force developed during rotation, the very small grains and other refuse matter, will fall through the screens, while the dried and cleaned material will pass to the spouts it is gathered bythe buckets 28 of the elevator 27. I I

It will be evident that several m0difica tions, as to the'arrangement and details of construction, might beintroduced into this apparatus, without departing from the limits of this invention and for the purpose of adapting theapparatus to the different uses to which it may be destined. Thus, instead of employing the number of drums set forth, any other suitable number of drying as well as of cooling drums may be adopted.

We now declare that what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s:

1. Drying apparatus for drying grain and similar materials, comprising in comb1nationz a series of drying cylinders or drums,

arranged concentrically and alternately secured by their ends to supporting disks, so as toform between the same annular spaces which together form a. continuous duct,

means for feeding the material into the innermost drum and outlet openings in the outermost drum for the discharge of said material, means for exhausting the air from the inner drum, longitudinal webs or ribs on the inner walls of some of the drums, helically arranged ribs being of opposite thread in every t-vo successive drums, means tween the drums, consisting of coils secured to the drums,'means for causing the same to rotate on its axis and an elevator formed integrally with the outermost drum, at its discharge end, for gatheringand elevating the dried material discharged therefrom,

substantially as described and for the purpose set forth,-

2; In a dry ng apparatus for drying grain and similar materials of the kind as set forth. a plurality of co-axial drums, some of which are drying drums, and heating means for the drying drums, two or more outer drums being without heating means and preferably insulated from the drying drums by means of a suitable non conductin material, substantially as described and for thepurpose set forth.

13 from which coilson some of the drums,

3. In a drying apparatus for drying grain and the like of the kind set forth, comprising nested drums, the arrangement on the outermost drum, near its outlet end, of a screen, substantially as described and for thepurpose set forth. I

4. In an apparatus for drying and cleaning grain and similar materials, comprising a series of co-axial drums, the arrangement of a hopper for feeding the material to be dried, said hopper being provided with a discharge pipe or spout 'fiared at its lower end and leading into the lower part or bottom of the innermost drum of the machine, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

' 5. In an apparatus for drying grain and feed pipe, andan exhauster placed in front of the feed pipe of the said drum, in one of the walls of said casing, for the discharge of impurities or refuse matter, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

6. In an apparatus for drying grain and the like, comprising a pluralityof co-axial drums so disposed that the spaces between them are connected serially, a hollow bush supporting one end of the apparatus, steam and means for simultaneously supplying and discharging steam from the coils through said bush.

7. In an apparatus for drying grain and the like, of the kind as set forth, consisting of a series of separating or cleaning, drying and cooling drums, means for supporting the whole structure, means for the admission of the air heating fluid to the drying drums, for exhausting the air from the cleaning or separating drums, means for the admission of air arranged within the. cooling drums, means within each of the drums, for imparting to the material under treatment contained therein, a traveling motion in a direction contrary to that of the air current and means for imparting to the whole structure a' rotatory motion around its axis, substantially as described and for the purpose set forth.

8. Drying apparatus for drying grain and similar materials comprising, in COIIlblIlfl current of air through said duct inQthe opposite direction, and means for applying heat at an intermediate portion of said duet, substantially as and for the purpose described. '9. An apparatus of the character de-' scribed comprising a rotatable body having a series of concentric drying cylinders pro- Viding annular spaces conneetedto form a continuous duct, means for feeding material through said duct in one direction during rotation of the body, means for causin 10- a current of air in the opposite direction, an

means for applying heat at a portion of said duct spaced from the air inlet end, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof We aflix our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

ABEL NORDSTROM.

E. B. COHEN; Tno sms MQENELLY. 

